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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 3 (Monday, January 6, 2025)]
[Notices]
[Pages 606-607]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-30702]

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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Notice of Cashes Ledge Site Added to the Inventory of Areas for 
Possible Designation as National Marine Sanctuaries

AGENCY: Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (ONMS), National Ocean 
Service (NOS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 
Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: On June 13, 2014, NOAA published a final rule establishing the 
Sanctuary Nomination Process, allowing communities to submit 
nominations to NOAA for consideration as new national marine 
sanctuaries. The rule outlined the review process, national 
significance criteria, and management considerations that NOAA uses to 
evaluate nominations for inclusion in the inventory of areas that could 
eventually be considered for designation. The rule also states that 
NOAA will publish a Federal Register notice when areas have been added 
to the inventory of successful nominations. This notice announces that 
NOAA has added the Cashes Ledge area to the inventory; the agency is 
not moving forward with a designation at this time.

DATES: Applicable January 3, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Matt Brookhart, Eastern Regional Director, NOAA Office of 
National Marine Sanctuaries, 1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, 
Maryland 20910, and at https://nominate.noaa.gov/nominations/.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Brookhart, Eastern Regional 
Director, NOAA Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, 
[email protected], or at 301-452-4177.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The National Marine Sanctuaries Act (NMSA) (16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.) 
authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to identify and designate as 
national marine sanctuaries areas of the marine environment, including 
the Great Lakes, which are of special national significance; to manage 
these areas as the National Marine Sanctuary System; and to provide for 
the comprehensive and coordinated conservation and management of these 
areas and the activities affecting them in a manner which complements 
existing regulatory authorities. Section 303 of the NMSA, 16 U.S.C. 
1433, provides national marine sanctuary designation standards and 
factors required in determining whether an area qualifies for 
consideration as a potential national marine sanctuary, and section 
304, 16 U.S.C. 1434, establishes procedures for national marine 
sanctuary designation and implementation. Regulations implementing the 
NMSA and each national marine sanctuary are codified in part 922 of 
title 15 of the Code of Federal Regulations.
    On June 13, 2014, NOAA issued a final rule that established the 
Sanctuary Nomination Process and finalized the national significance 
criteria and management considerations it will use to review new 
national marine sanctuary nominations (79 FR 33851). If NOAA determines 
a nomination adequately meets the final criteria and considerations, it 
may place that nomination in an inventory of areas to consider for 
designation as a national marine sanctuary. NOAA also stated that it 
would send a letter of notification to the nominator and publish a 
Federal Register notice identifying areas that have been added to the 
inventory of successful nominations. This notice documents that NOAA is 
adding the Cashes Ledge area to the inventory.
    NOAA is not designating any new national marine sanctuaries with 
this action. Any proposed designations of areas on the inventory would 
be conducted by NOAA as a separate process under the NMSA, 
Administrative Procedure Act (5 U.S.C. Subchapter II), National 
Environmental Policy Act (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), and other applicable 
authorities.

II. Cashes Ledge Sanctuary Nomination Added to the Inventory

    Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) nominated the Cashes Ledge area 
to be considered for designation as a national marine sanctuary on July 
29, 2024. CLF identified a 766 mi\2\ area around Cashes

[[Page 607]]

Ledge, which is located 90 miles east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 
the Gulf of Maine. This area includes not just Cashes Ledge, but also 
Parker Ridge and Sigsbee Ridge, which collectively form a 32 mile long 
granite ridge that rises sharply from the sea floor and runs parallel 
to the coastline. CLF nominated the Cashes Ledge area for consideration 
as a national marine sanctuary to protect its nationally significant 
ecological resources. These include dense kelp forests, habitat for 
species such as cod, Atlantic wolffish, halibut, and flounder, and 
globally significant populations of marine mammals, such as North 
Atlantic right whales, and seabirds, such as Atlantic puffins. CLF also 
nominated the Cashes Ledge area for consideration in order to better 
protect the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, which New England's coastal 
communities depend on economically for tourism, shipping, offshore 
energy, and recreational and commercial fishing.
    Based on information included in the nomination, including the 
comment letters submitted with the nomination, as well as NOAA's 
internal analysis, NOAA has determined that the nomination is 
responsive to the 11 national significance criteria and management 
considerations it uses to review nominations. Therefore, this notice 
serves to inform the public of the agency's decision to add the Cashes 
Ledge area to the inventory of successful nominations.
    At this time, NOAA is not initiating a sanctuary designation 
process. In adding the Cashes Ledge area to the inventory, NOAA does 
not endorse or imply endorsement of any specific boundaries, 
regulations or management measures in the Cashes Ledge nomination. 
Should NOAA decide to initiate a sanctuary designation process for 
Cashes Ledge in the future, it would establish a highly public, multi-
year process for exploring possibilities for sanctuary boundaries, 
regulations and programs in partnership with other Federal agencies, 
Tribal Nations, State governments, stakeholders and the public.

III. Classification

A. National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)

    NOAA has concluded that the action of adding the Cashes Ledge area 
to the inventory of successful nominations will not have a significant 
effect, individually or cumulatively, on the human environment because 
this action is administrative in nature and does not designate or 
propose to designate any new national marine sanctuaries. NOAA has 
further determined that this action is not connected to a larger 
action, and does not involve extraordinary circumstances precluding the 
use of a categorical exclusion in accordance with NEPA (42 U.S.C. 4321 
et seq.). Therefore, this action is categorically excluded from the 
requirement to prepare an environmental assessment or environmental 
impact statement, in accordance with NOAA Administrative Order 216-6A 
Environmental Review Procedures, and the NOAA NEPA Companion Manual. As 
defined in the NOAA NEPA Companion Manual, Appendix E, categorical 
exclusion category G7, the proposed action is a notice of 
administrative and procedural nature and for which any environmental 
effects are too broad and speculative to lend themselves to meaningful 
analysis at this time and will be subject later to the NEPA process, as 
applicable. Should NOAA decide to propose the designation of a national 
marine sanctuary, each individual national marine sanctuary designation 
process will be subject to case-by-case analysis, as required under 
NEPA and as outlined in section 304(a)(2)(A) of the NMSA.
    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1431 et seq.

John Armor,
Director, Office of National Marine Sanctuaries, National Ocean 
Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
[FR Doc. 2024-30702 Filed 1-3-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-NK-P
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